XU: COIN OF VIETNAM
5 xu, ND (1975): Republic of Vietnam
ND (no date). — The coin was issued a year before the unification of South and North Vietnam into a single state in 1976.
NĂM XU: five xu (the following fact about South Vietnamese exchange coins seems very strange and incomprehensible to me: 10 and 20 su in 1953, 50 xu in 1953, 50 su in 1960 and 50 xu in 1963 were issued; that is, the denomination was indicated in su or xu formats without any logic or regularities).
5.
Coin with a round hole in the center.
Ornament.
NGÂN HÀNG VIỆT NAM: Bank of Vietnam.
5 XU.
Stylized bird.
- Aluminium: 23 mm - 1.53 g
- Reference price: 5.5$
COIN XU — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- VIETNAM (1945-...) — North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) + South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) + Socialist Republic of Vietnam: xu (sometines, su) = 1/100 dong
XU as coin name.
Xu — the smallest denomination of Vietnamese coins.
In 1976, after a long war, South and North Vietnam were finally united into a single state — the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. After only 2 years, a common currency for the whole nation was introduced — the Vietnamese dong. Formally, the modern dong is divided into 10 hao or 100 xu, but small coins have not been minted for a long time.
However, after the declaration of independence from France and the division of the state into two parts, several types of xu coins were minted on the territory of modern Vietnam: South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, as well as the earliest xu — of the Rebel Communist State (this coin of 1945 can be considered the first post-colonial one of Vietnam).
As of the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, the following fact can be stated: the xu denomination coin was issued only during 1945-1975. Interestingly, in 1953 and 1960, South Vietnam minted SU coins, while in 1953 and 1963 — XU. Unfortunately, it was not possible to trace any logic...
The coin's name, xu, is closely linked to Vietnam's colonial past. Captured by France during 1858-1884, Vietnam became part of the French colonial possessions in Indochina. The local Indochinese piastre, divided into 100 centimes, began to be used as money. Traditionally, for France, a coin of 5 centimes was called a sou — in honor of the old French coin, which was replaced by 5 centimes at the end of the 18th century. Therefore, we can probably assume that the xu coin (as well as the su type) was named after sou.
